Haverhill MP welcomes £2.35 billion schools funding boost

West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock is delighted that the Government is giving anotehr �2.35b to create more school places

Steve Barton

Matthew Hancock, MP for West Suffolk, has welcomed the news that the Government has announced an extra £2.35 billion to create more school places.

This is in addition to the £5 billion that is already being spent in this parliament.

This means that between 2014 and 2017 schools in Suffolk will receive over £13 million.

This is part of the Government’s long-term plan to give every young person the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

It is the first time that councils have had 3-year allocations of funding to spend on school places, so Suffolk County Council can plan ahead and ensure every child has a school place. This Government has already created 260,000 new school places and this announcement means thousands more are on the way.

Matthew commented: “The last Labour government ignored the fact that rising birth rates meant we will need thousands more school places in the coming years, and did nothing to prepare.

“Suffolk’s MPs work together and are always making the case for more funding for the county.

“It is great news for young people in West Suffolk that this Government has found billions of extra funding to ensure every child has a place at school so that they can fulfil their potential.

“This is part of the long-term plan to create an education system that gives young people who want to work hard the skills they need to get on in life and have a better, more secure future.”

Education Secretary Michael Gove said: “Labour were warned repeatedly that they hadn’t done enough to plan for a growing population – and once more it’s been left to the Coalition Government to clean up the mess.

“Labour cut 200,000 primary places, slashed the amount spent on areas of population growth, and let immigration soar – and all this in the middle of a baby boom.

“The Coalition Government has, however, taken swift action to repair the damage.

“We have more than doubled funding for new school places and we are also setting up great new free schools, which are giving parents a choice of high quality school places in areas Labour neglected.

“Ed Miliband is too weak to apologise for the shortage of school places his government left behind and too weak to stand up to the unions and back free schools.’